MONROVIA: ECOWAS volunteers who have worked to support the Ministry of Gender, Children, and Social Protection for the past three years, helping to develop institutional policies, have completed their service and retired to their home country, Nigeria.
Gender Minster Williametta Saydee-Tarr lauded the regional bloc as well as praised the volunteers for their “indelible services” to Liberia at the recent farewell ceremony held in Monrovia.
“I have sat over the past three years and watched you – and know that you all brought added values to the work of the Ministry, and today, you are leaving behind documentations that are clear and concise – documents that will go beyond our administration and your names will be on them. Therefore you are leaving a piece of you behind,” said Min. Saydee-Tarr.
Basically the roles of Madam Bowmanere Monique Elaebi and Mr. Biyama Naphtali Yerima can be traced to numerous successes such as their facilitation of the development of the Liberia 2nd National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security -1325, particularly in proposing the implementation structure and the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) Report capacity building workshop to train Gender Coordinators, Gender Focal persons and other key stakeholders.
Both of the volunteers acknowledged the high-level of cooperation and teamwork accorded them at the Ministry of Gender during their stay in the country, terming it as working in a “conducive environment that made our work easier.”
“It’s hard to say goodbye when you have spent three years with people and got to know them – it’s really hard to say goodbye – but I want to appreciate everyone for their time and may God bless all of you,” Elaebi added.
Few other specific works they have done include their contribution to designing the Annual Work Plan for the department for Research, Statistics, Policy and Planning; and worked with the technical team of the social development sector to design the Liberian five-year plan.
Also, they provided technical support in the process of the review and adoption of the National Gender Policy and Strategic Result Framework for the implementation of NGP as well as developed Gender responsive planning and budgeting term of reference for internal consultant.
The ECOWAS volunteers, according to the Ministry, equally served as committee members and contributed to drafting the Terms of Reference (ToR) for collection of department, division reports in the Ministry of Gender and contributed in reviewing concept notes on aligning strategic plans with the Pro Poor Agenda for Prosperity and Development (PAPD).
The Ministry further cited, among other things, the volunteers’ championing of the first and second drafts of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the Women and CEDAW national reports.
ECOWAS sends skilled volunteers to member countries to help harness ongoing progress in various sectors. Courtesy:LINA
